Prosthesis use alleged in drug test plan

By
Del Quentin Wilber

Shannon L. Wren really didn't want to be drug tested as a condition of his pre-trial release on federal charges of trafficking in counterfeit computer circuits and selling them to the U.S. Navy -- and he concocted an unusual plan to avoid a test, according to authorities.

He skipped two drug tests, then refused to provide a urine sample at a third -- despite being given the "opportunity to drink water until he needed to void," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Schornstein wrote in court papers.

In late January, prosecutors alleged, he showed up at a pre-trial monitoring office and was was ready to urinate -- only this time he was caught using a home-made "prosthetic penis device" to provide his sample.

A pre-trial services officer confiscated the "apparatus," Schornstein wrote in court papers seeking to have Wren arrested and his pre-trial release revoked by a federal judge.

Wren's lawyers, Bernard S. Grimm and Jeffrey G. Brown, countered in court papers that their client used the device because "he has difficulty urinating in front of adult males due to an incident that occurred in his youth" and argued that Wren's conduct was not egregious enough to justify his confinement pending trial.

At a hearing last week in the District's federal court, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay denied prosecutors' request to revoke Wren's pre-trial release but imposed additional restrictions that included weekly drug testing and weekly contact with pre-trial services.

Though charged in the District, Wren is being monitored by federal authorities in Florida, where the 42-year-old resides. His indictment on 10 counts of conspiracy, trafficking in counterfeit goods and mail fraud was unsealed in September. No trial date has been set.

why do they need to drug test someone charged with selling counterfeit circuit boards anyway?
he isn't charged with a drug offense.
let the man keep his urine.
why is the government so hungry for urine from everyone? why are we wasting all this money on testing everyone charged with apparently just about anything?